Chapter 98 - A Short Break

After talking for a while Aaris and the party sneaked out of that warehouse, the port from which all the boxes were brought in, they sneaked from a big tunnel from there, though they did find some guards, but they weren't any bother them

They got past through them and they found a waterfall blocking their way, 

"Talk about the obvious…" Jane sighed and walked through the waterfall, but her step fell down to a hollow trench, Aaris grabbed her hand before she was pushed down with the powerful current.

"You thought there was way past the current? Be careful here, we can't lose you." Aaris pulled her up back behind the current inside the cave.

"Shut up!" Jane jerked her hand and went to Melvi, she used a talisman to dry her up, meanwhile in her mind,

'kyaa! He said it! He can't lose me! And he jumped right into the current to save me!! Just how much he loves me?!' She got red as flustered.

"What should we do then? Judging from the terrain we are behind a waterfall, below the mountain and the domain land, this must be their passage from  where they bring stuff lying low from the kingdom's security, but how do they get past this trench?" Zia calmly assessed.

"Is there really a trench?" Cecelia spoke, 

"What do you-" Aaris turned to her and recalled the Copperlin mine, 

"Cecelia! Can you sense the path from here?" Aaris walked to her, 

"I can, but it won't be clear, just a bit faint" Cecelia raised her left arm and focused on the waterfall.

"There is! There is a path! It would lead us straight to the bottom of the trench!" Cecelia wiggled her arm at the corner of the entrance of the cave.

"Well then let's go!" Jane jumped in excitement.

They walked down that invisible path and discovered the curve path of the trench, they ended up at the trench outside the domain ascending straight to the land, they realized this trench was actually a dried-up river, they changed the flow of water directly underground to create a pathway inside the mountain.

They got out of there and finally saw the sky that shone brightly with millions of stars shining upon them, they took a breath of relief, on the dried-up soil.

"Where are we now?" Zia looked around but found nothing but dead land, 

"Dumpground, when I realized this was the dried river that was once called Vessmi that surged from the mountain Vess, I knew we are going to end up here, this is the first village that resides close to the river, while this mountain is between Dumpground and Diesswrin's domain." Jane looked down while talking.

"Let's not waste time here, let's head to your cottage and then send sister Cecelia to a safe place." Melvi tapped Jane's shoulder and glared at Aaris.

-- Aaris - PoV --

'Let's do that.' We nodded and picked up Cecelia and we left that drain, after walking for a while Jane led us to a small cottage where took peace.

"Lady Jane! How are you? I was so worried! Where did you go?" A maid opened the door for us and snuggled Jane as soon as she saw her.

"Me too! I missed you too Bisca! Anyway, these are my friends and now part of my mission too, so we are going to stay here." Jane started crying and in an instant smiling with a proud smug.

"Friends? You finally made friends! I was so worried about your future! I am so happy today! Now you don't have to celebrate your birthday alone-" Bisca was weeping to squeeze her, 

"Wha- what are you talking about! Hahaha…. She is just kidding guys! I had so many friends that it was difficult to invite all the guys to a single party! Hahaha…" she covered her mouth and pulled her inside a room, 

"You guys! Take some rest now!" Jane shouted from inside the room.

We settled down on the floor and I laid with my arms and legs stretched out.

'Zia.' I looked at Zia and she pulled the communication orb, she activated the spell and tried to connect to the captain and Styrmir,

"Captain? Can you hear us? Are you there?" We all horde around that ball and shortly that orb flickered in dim light, 

"Zia? Is it you?" Her voice passed through the orb, 

"Yes, it's me, how was your day?" Zia uttered, her expression looked grim that didn't match with words she just said.

"It was fresh daylight till the night, tell me how was your day?" Captain Hez's voice sounded so nonchalant like we were on a picnic.

"Good, we did find some rouge animals but we had fun," Zia said, 

'What the hell are you talking about?' I snapped, I went through so much trouble and they are acting like we were just having a time of our life on a picnic.

"Hey don't get so cranky! Use your head, we are talking in a misleading way to make sure things on both of our ends are okay or not! Can't believe you are overlooking such things!" Captain Hez shouted at me, 

"Ahem...Zia seems you didn't build them anyway, I am glad you all are okay, so what happened on your end?" Captain calmed down, even from the orb, she is scary.

Wait a minute!

"Not too well, this place is rotten to its core!..." And Zia narrated everything we had seen so far while talking. She looked like she was on the verge of losing it but controlled herself somehow, 

"Dark elf?! Are you serious? They were trafficking dark elves to nobles? Just what hell are these guys planning?" The captain was perplexed though she chewed her anger and relaxed down a bit, 

"That's all, what about you? How are things on your end? Did you hear anything about the pendant?" Zia spoke, 

'Jane!' I felt something tingling in me, 

"What?" She came out and shouted at me, 

'Where… where is the toilet?' I stood up and she pointed her to the left, I ran there and returned completely relaxed. Just beside the bathroom there was a door leading to an open backyard with a pond there.

I shivered with relaxation and walked back to my crunchy bed.

"Nope, we didn't hear anything about the pendant, moreover we weren't been able to sneak on his mansion, he has increased the security around his mansion 5 fold for some reason, we asked around and people told he was preparing for a great banquet for his son's and announce him the next duke of Diesswrin domain, five days from now on." Captain sighed, 

"It's nothing but a cover, he is planning to overthrow the kingdom!" Zia shouted in rage, 

"What!? Are you serious?!" Captain Hez shouted louder than her, 

'Can't you talk a bit calmly…" I sat down irritated 

"Shut the fuck up!" They both yelled at me in unison.

'Ok!' I crashed on the floor again, women are scary...

"Zia, Melvi, and Rise, you three meet me on the Dumpground village, and we'll rework and improvise our plan there, 

"We are already here," Melvi yelled with enthusiasm, 

"I see then, I and Styrmir are heading out from here, we'll reach there soon, till then be careful." Captain excitingly replied,

"Zia and Melvi I know you are missing me-" Styrmir's voice was silenced with a loud punch.

Finally a moment of peace! 

Zia and Melvi crashed on the dried husks and straws, while Cecelia rested on the only bed that cottage had.

Eventually, my exhaustion got me and I dozed off, though my conscious jerked me awake in a while, I stood up and looked around and realized Melvi and Zia weren't there, well I heard they will get to the next room to sleep

Why were they so eager to change the room? Do I stink? I smelled myself and realized I was really stinking bad!

'I should take a bath!' I got out of my room and walked to the bathroom, I stripped down and took a nice stretch, I picked up my clothes and looked for the towel, but they weren't there, 

``Weird they were here when I saw them before, well it's until no one is looking.'  I shrugged and opened the door, 

'Here I come! my hea...ven!' I shouted in excitement and entered the bathroom, and slid the door, and saw 5 beautiful were girls staring at me,  for that millisecond my life took a long pause, 

Melvi rubbing Cecelia back, Zia was in the pond while Bisca was washing Jane's hair.

My eyes fixed on their glistening skin with shimmering droplets and warm water vapor which was boiling in a drum close to the pond, 

Their wet hairs and plump body almost ceased in my heart, suddenly my sanity was telling me to run, but my body reacted at the wrong time, 

"Noooo! Don't look!" All of them yelled and covered themselves with their hands

"You…" Zia grabbed her towel and stood up, 

'Wait Zia, listen to me! It's not what it looks like!' I covered myself and tried to run.